Mr. Percy Foster:

There are exemptions in the legislation. We have a code of good practice which specifies that untreated sewage sludge should not go onto land. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government policy is that local authorities should follow this code of good practice. In practice we have found that not all local authorities are following this code of good practice because the legislation provides for exemptions allowing them to spread untreated sludge onto land. Where there is no guarantee that all the sewage sludge can be treated and processed to ensure no pathogens are introduced into the environment, I am concerned about that.